Hebrew

Karin Kneissl recalls a recent trip to the holy city of Qom in Iran, where she met with conservative clerics to discuss literal vs. flexible interpretations of the Koran as regards the veil many Muslim women are expected to wear by religious authorities there and in many other parts of the Muslim world. A crucial detail was their lack of fluency in Arabic, which Kneissl believes could be a factor driving their literal reading of the holy book.

Karin Kneissl recalls meeting an elegant Iranian diplomat in Tehran during President Ahmadinejad’s term in 2006. Not only did this man claim he heard “good things” about an Israeli university, but he said he was confident that then U.S. President George W. Bush and Ahmadinejad would meet and reconcile, for both men had “met God.”